Need Help Changing tip types based on volume dispensing

Tecan
1

Im using a Tecan Freedom Evo, its kind of a older version. I have a GWl file that looks like this:

A;DNA Extraction Plate;;DNA Extraction Plate;1;;23.08;;;
D;Normalized Plate;;qPCR A tailing 0.2mL;1;;23.08;;;
W;
A;DNA Extraction Plate;;DNA Extraction Plate;2;;33.15;;;
D;Normalized Plate;;qPCR A tailing 0.2mL;2;;33.15;;;
W;

The last value on the “A;” line is how much volume to aspirate (for example, the first line is 23.08uL and the second line is 33.15uL. The range of volumes are 5uL-75uL.

I want the Tecan to use 200uL tips when pipetting anything above 30uL and 50uL tips when pipetting anything below 30uL. I am not sure how to do this. The script in the Tecan software just prompts the user to import the GWL file and it does the rest but it inly uses 200uL tips. I want to make an if statement that uses the volume as a variable and if it is under 30uL use 50uL tips, otherwise use 200uL tips.

I would appreciate any advice anyone has to do this. Let me know if you need more information, like how my Script looks like in Tecan workflow UI.

Thanks,
John

2

Hi John,
there are a couple of ways to handle this,

  1. create the gwl file programmatically, and insert an S; command to define the tip type to use for each channel (allowing you to volumetrically determine the optimum tip size) (if you use the “import worklist” function, tip type is limited to 1 type per worklist)
  2. move away from gwl, and use std EVOware code to control the aspirate & dispense for the variable volumes - for this, you would need to assign a “tip mask” to control which channel picks up a 50 uL, and which channel picks up a 200 uL tip - but visually, it would look more streamlined with actual aspirate & dispense commands

i just wrote this specific application for a client doing thousands of DNA normalizations a day for HT NGS/WGS - using evoware std with external program to handle the pipetting logic/volumes directly into the EVOware script

pls email me if you need more details or want to talk specifics

daniel.leach@optimizeyourlab.com
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